UTAH LAW OFFICERS FILE SUIT OVER SEIZURE INITIATIVE

Lawsuit Seeks To Stop New Law From Taking Effect

SALT LAKE CITY -- Law enforcement officers couldn't win before Utah voters
so now they hope a federal judge will strike down Initiative B, a Utahns
for Property Protection spokesman said Tuesday.

"I'm not surprised law enforcement is trying to stop Initiative B in the
court. They were frustrated when nearly 70 percent of the voters said they
wanted their property rights protected. They couldn't win it on the ballot,
so now they want the court to stop it," said attorney Andrew Stavros.

Lt. Wayne Tarwater of the Weber- Morgan Narcotics Strike Force joined
officers from Garfield, Iron, Salt Lake and Utah counties and from Sandy
and West Valley City in filing the lawsuit Tuesday. They asked federal
Judge Dee Benson to prevent Initiative B, the Utah Property Protection Act,
from becoming effective March 20 while they seek to overturn it.

Initiative B would resolve a number of abuses in seizure cases where law
enforcement officers sell seized property through forfeiture procedures,
according to a legislative audit. It would add more accountability to the
process and halt the forfeiture sale of property seized from people who
eventually are found to be innocent.

Because the new law says all proceeds in state criminal forfeiture cases
must help fund public education, officers claim that conflicts with federal
laws covering cases when federal and local lawmen cooperate and then share
proceeds from forfeited property, primarily in drug investigations.

Federal law says forfeiture revenues shared with local agencies must be
used for law enforcement purposes. The plaintiffs said that shared money
cannot go into the Uniform School Fund, so that would force them to violate
the new law.

"The scope of this lawsuit is very narrow," Stavros said. "It involves only
a tiny, tiny portion of Initiative B that affects federal law. Even if the
judge strikes down that portion, 99 percent of it will still be good law.
And they could always turn back the federal money."

In addition, Stavros said, the Utah Attorney General's office reviewed
Initiative B before it was placed on the ballot and found it to be
constitutional.

"The plaintiffs aren't concerned about people's rights, they just don't
want to give up the money they get from selling the property of innocent
owners," he said.

In 1999, Utah police and Sheriff's deputies shared slightly more than
$700,000 in forfeiture cases.